Biographer's Lecture Saturday On Gram Parsons Promises Musical Bonus

Wednesday

Feb 13, 2013 at 9:32 PM

It has been a long time since anyone has had the chance to hear Gram Parsons perform in Winter Haven, the city where he spent his youth. Parsons, who died in 1973 at age 26, will make a musical appearance of sorts Saturday as part of a presentation by Bob Kealing, author of the book "Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock."

By GARY WHITETHE LEDGER

It has been a long time since anyone has had the chance to hear Gram Parsons perform in Winter Haven, the city where he spent his youth.

Parsons, who died in 1973 at age 26, will make a musical appearance of sorts Saturday as part of a presentation by Bob Kealing, author of the book "Calling Me Home: Gram Parsons and the Roots of Country Rock."

Kealing will hold a lecture and book signing at 3 p.m. at the Winter Haven Public Library. Following that event, the audience will be invited to walk a short distance to the building that once housed a teen club where Parsons' early folk band, the Shilos, regularly performed.

Those who make the trek will hear a live recording of Parsons and the Shilos performing at that building, then called the Derry Down, in 1964. Kealing said former Winter Haven resident Jim Carlton, who briefly played with Parsons in a band called the Legends, taped several songs from a live radio broadcast on a reel-to-reel recorder.

"What I want to do is talk about how aspiring musicians and entertainers were able to benefit from what I call the youth center circuit," Kealing said. "There were youth centers all across the peninsula in the early '60s, and these kids who weren't even old enough to drive, like Gram, had their own touring bands and were able to build a regional following and perform live and get paid to do so because of this youth center circuit."

Along with Parsons, often credited with spawning the country-rock genre, the area produced such well-known musicians as Jim Stafford, Bobby Braddock and Les Dudek.

Kealing, a reporter for an Orlando TV station, said he hopes the event will prompt efforts to preserve the Derry Down building, now being used as a warehouse. Kealing led a successful drive in the 1990s to preserve an Orlando house where author Jack Kerouac once lived.

"I'm a guy who feels the vibration of history, and I think it's going to be very special to hear a young Gram who would have just turned 18 when this recording was made," Kealing said.

Despite his age, Parsons by that point had already played the New York City folk scene and gotten the attention of Albert Grossman, famed as the manager of Bob Dylan, Kealing said.

Admission to both events Saturday is free. Kealing will be selling copies of his book, published last fall by University Press of Florida.

Cori Greear, public services librarian at the Winter Haven Library, noted that Florida is celebrating the 500th anniversary of European discovery of the peninsula.

"It's important to celebrate all of Florida history, but also when you have local history you can inform your community about, that's important, too," Greear said.

[ Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. ]